Hello everyone,
Dmitry here.
Today we are releasing Patch 56 to the main branch together with the previous Patches 55 and 54, meaning the game will be updated by three versions at once.
The main focus of this update is the Event Director, improvements to the overall gameplay experience, and balance.
Patch 56 also primarily focuses on balance adjustments and fixing a large number of bugs.
Although the game may not seem to have gained a huge amount of new content, and some of the changes may appear questionable at first glance, we believe the game has become significantly more fun to play.
Over the coming weeks, we will release updates to intrigues and dark deeds, improvements to combat tactics, village development, character worldviews, a peaceful game mode, and optimization. Much of this is already nearly complete, but still requires testing.
So stay with us. The game is developing quickly, and the most exciting part is only beginning.
As usual, all save files are compatible.
Steam Reviews: Your Feedback Matters
Hi everyone!
If you've been enjoying Norland, we'd really appreciate it if you took a few minutes to leave a Steam review.
We read every one of them. They help us understand what players are enjoying, where the game is frustrating, and what you'd like to see us work on next. They're also one of the biggest ways players can help other people discover Norland.
It doesn't have to be long. Whether you've spent ten hours trying to keep your kingdom together or a hundred watching it spectacularly fall apart, we'd love to hear what you think.
Thanks for all the support. It means a lot to the team.
Full List of Changes
Patch #56 (New)
Gameplay
Added the "Gift to the Ruler" action on the global map, replacing "Spend Time Together"
The AI can now attack not only villages directly bordering its territory, but also other neighboring villages
Added the ability to poison guest lords on the local map
Younger lords sent to the Church can now return as a Bishop (50% chance) or Matriarch (33% chance). They can return no sooner than 10 days after leaving and only if they are between 30 and 50 years old. Characters with the "Greedy" or "Envious" traits cannot become Bishop
The Bishop can now be selected as the performer for "Play Dice" or "Spend Time Together", but only on the local map
The game can now be saved and loaded while a sermon is in progress
Unhappy characters can now be sent on assignments on the global map
Improved the algorithm for determining the correct tile when building roads or walls on elevated terrain
Automatic medicine distribution to soldiers will now be created when these resources first appear in storage, or after loading an old save
The "Profitable Trade Offer" opportunity will now take into account whether the player has production buildings capable of producing the required resource
Rutabaga and Carrots have been added to the list of goods sold by AI cities
Wolves can now join fights during lord hunts if they are within 15 tiles of the hunting area, with a maximum of 3 wolves
The "Self-Harm" nervous breakdown is now limited to three cuts
Special resources such as medicine that have been assigned for distribution will now be checked by residents every hour rather than once per day, allowing soldiers to receive medicine more quickly
Characters who cannot walk will no longer be counted as requiring medicine in the resource distribution menu
Graphics
Improved shadow rendering on the local map. Shadows cast by objects are now correctly concealed by terrain, such as trees located behind a tall mountain
Updated the Mill building assets
Added different 3D blade meshes for every Mill level
The rotation angle of building meshes, such as Mill blades, will now be randomized when loading the game
Updated the Weaponsmith building assets
Updated the Smelter assets. Levels 2 and 3 now have a different appearance
Interface
Moved the "Reconciliation" action to the Political Intrigues section of cities on the global map
When a politician or guest performs an intrigue action, a snake notification will appear at the top of the screen. Clicking it will move the camera to the performer
The resident and soldier hints in the top-left corner will now display political support for the ruler, rather than only support for the politician. Lords will be sorted in descending order
Updated the hint for gifting the ruler on the global map
Updated the resource distribution menu. The "For All/For Each" mode selection has been removed. Resources are now always distributed among everyone, while gold is given to each character. Medicine and Infusion are only given to those who need them. Soldiers will no longer take Medicine or Infusion on their own unless a distribution has been created
Average mood in resident hints is now rounded to the nearest whole number
Changed the quest icon layout in the city menu to allow more icons to fit
In the menu for recruiting peasants, prisoners, and mercenaries into the army, their Combat skill will be displayed without bonuses. In the menu for already recruited soldiers, their Combat skill will be displayed with bonuses
Added horizontal scrolling to the quest panel in the open city menu. It becomes active if the total number of quests and alerts in the city exceeds 6. The panel can be scrolled using the mouse wheel or by moving the cursor to the edges of the quest list
In "Lord Statistics", relationship changes will only be counted if both characters are the player's lords, meaning titled lords or hired free lords, or the Bishop
The political support panel will not be displayed in resident and soldier hints if politics has not yet been unlocked in the city and the player does not have a politician competing with the ruler
A Medicine resource icon will now appear above a character taking Medicine, while an Infusion icon will appear above a character taking Infusion
Clicking an event at the top of the screen will now zoom in as well as move the camera to the event object
The problem flag indicating that a politician has selected a target will no longer be displayed for the player's ruler
Fixes
Fixed a crash when hovering over an unavailable performer for a Sermon of Faith
Fixed a hint rendering bug that could cause punctuation to wrap onto a separate line when preceded by another hint
Fixed a rendering bug in the time panel
Fixed text overlapping when using tags
Fixed a bug where the mercenary recruitment hint displayed the line "Will receive the Fear of Death thought"
Fixed a bug where, after winning a global map battle in which the player's squad helped the AI defend a city, the squad commander did not gain soldier loyalty
Fixed a bug where the Quality Work comfort bonus affected the Prison Ward and Hall
Fixed a bug where a technical string about learning a building technology through an insight appeared in the character log
Fixed a bug where the population displayed in the player's city interface on the global map did not include prisoners
Fixed a bug where characters could still buy food from the caravan trader, including rutabaga, even if they were receiving that food for free through distribution
Fixed a bug where the caravan trader could be selected as a poisoning target
Fixed a bug where a character suffering from a Drinking Binge nervous breakdown could remain stuck in that state without going to drink if fewer than 5 units of alcohol remained in their home storage
Fixed issues with the task to capture a lord during a Dog-Headed raid
The alliance offer quest will now be removed if the AI is no longer the leader of the alliance
Fixed a bug where Swamp Fever prevented characters from taking Berry Infusion and its pain was not reduced by it. Pain caused by Swamp Fever will also no longer decrease over time
Fixed a bug where the Sermon of Generosity was not displayed while on cooldown
Fixed a bug where building particles were not initialized after upgrading a building and only appeared after loading a save
Fixed a bug where some of the player's soldiers could disappear when a squad left the local map if the player edited the squad composition after issuing the order to leave
The advice about insufficient paper will no longer disappear as long as at least one Chancellery still requires paper
Fixed multi-day inspections and the replenishment of Chancelleries with paper
Balance
Vassal uprisings are now triggered by the Event Director. After the player vassalizes a neighboring province, it cannot rebel for 3 days
Removed "Spend Time Together" from the global map. In the tutorial, this action has been replaced with "Gift to the Ruler"
If an AI army is already returning home, an uprising will not begin in its city until the army returns
Inviting an AI ruler to an alliance now requires the total equipment value of your soldiers to be higher than theirs, rather than your army strength
At the start of a new game, three provinces directly neighboring the player's province, instead of 1-2, will increase their city population to no more than 7 above the player's population, rather than the usual 18, on Easy and Normal difficulty
Enemies arriving on the local map will now prepare for an attack slightly farther from the edge of the map
Added a separate cooldown for AI attacks on villages belonging to other AI factions, set to 3 days by default
Reinforcements arriving in the player's city will bring 1 Flour for each day of their stay, preventing them from starving
Burning a village now reduces the AI's army by 10%
Bribing bandits to attack a city or villages in a province will no longer cost a fixed 300 coins. It will now cost 30 coins per bandit, including the 5 additional bandits hired as part of the bribe
Reworked the growth of village and bandit camp defenders. Their strength is now calculated as a percentage of the army value in the city of their province. Bandit camps no longer grow after spawning, except for archers stationed in towers. The minimum defender value is 800 and the maximum is 5,500. Village defenders will use the same equipment as bandits
The AI will only attack villages and bandit camps if its strength is at least twice as high as theirs
The minimum gold loot from a village is now 100 coins
AI cities will no longer increase their population through trade with the player
The reward for destroying a bandit camp or village is now calculated based on the value of the defending forces, at 20% of their value
After losing a battle, an AI city on the global map will not recruit new troops for 1 day. The number of soldiers who can switch to new equipment has been reduced from 4 to 3
Increased the Doctor trait's healing chance from 50% to 75%
Increased the Weaponsmith trait bonus from 20% to 30%
The Enlightener now takes 20% longer to read
Reduced the Farmer trait bonus from 20% to 10%
Increased the cost of using "Master of Profit" from 200 to 500. It now rerolls goods on the global map instead of swapping them
The stake for playing dice is now 150 coins instead of 300
A puppet now transfers 50% of their gold to their master instead of 80%
Old Age now reduces speed by 15% instead of 50%
Puppets will no longer periodically give 90% of their money to their master
The Potion of Madness will now reduce interest in the target by 60 instead of 20
The population threshold for unlocking the "Training Ground" technology has been reduced from 65 to 40
After a fistfight, all characters on the local map will now receive a thought and a change in interest toward both the winner and the loser. The effect on interest has been doubled
A character with more than 1,100 gold will no longer develop a desire for a reward, including a political reward
Reduced the strength of the "Emotionless Sex" thought caused by seduction from -20 to -10
Politicians will now seek confession when their total sin value reaches -10 instead of -15
The mood required for a politician to assign a seduction task has been increased from 40 to 60
Reduced the effect of the "Serpent's Tongue" strength from x2 to x1.5. Negative social thoughts toward a character with this strength are now 30% stronger
Smuggler trait: permanent -5 penalty to the Trade skill
Prince of Thieves and Beggar traits: when the player's ruler with either trait receives money, it is now transferred to the treasury rather than their personal inventory
Chancellery inspections will now last 2 days instead of 1
The distribution of trade goods is now more even. Cities will try not to sell the same resource as a neighboring city
Patch #55 (BETA). Event Director and Balance
Event Director
Added the Event Director, which regulates the flow of random events:
Attack on the player's city by the Faceless
Attack on the player's city or village by bandits from a camp
Attack on the player's city or village by a neighboring province, or an attempt to force the player into vassalage
Attack on the player's city by marauders
Prophecies
Arrival of unique guests
A politician's desire to change the ruler
Bribery of a politician
Conspiracies
Uprisings
Dark deeds on the local map
Raids on the player's city by neutral factions
Opportunities - special ongoing events that the player can use to recover
Tutorial and Interface
Added an image to the "Intrigues with Neighbors" encyclopedia article
Improved the "Intrigues with Neighbors" tutorial: it is now triggered by the puppet advice, and the target is selected through the seduction prompt
Added advice for having six or more unfilled jobs
When the player acquires knowledge that unlocks a new crop, a yellow marker will now appear on the field
Updated the battle tutorial with the Ragamuffins. It now uses the new raid system, and the Ragamuffins approach the player's city on the global map
Added a yellow marker to the soft tutorial task window to indicate that the hint has not yet been read
Changed the threshold for displaying the low population happiness alert from 40 to 30
The army panel at the bottom of the screen will now display enemy armies on the global map that are moving to attack the player's city
The summary will no longer report when someone makes a friend
Removed the rumor notification
The advice that the king does not have enough followers now has a new condition: there must be a politician in the player's faction
The Lord Feud tutorial scenario now points to the "Play Dice" action
The "Knowledge Will Soon Be Lost" advice now only takes knowledge from the "Economy" category into account
Removed the notification: "Lord: Bad Relations with the King"
Added a button to the load menu that refreshes the list of saved games
If another faction becomes an enemy while the player is under the protection of the Church, the notification will indicate that the player is protected by the Church
The knowledge acquisition event is no longer displayed for knowledge that is already known or permanent
Characters who have temporarily left the local map will now appear in the list of possible sermon performers. They will be unavailable, with the reason shown
When a character goes to intimidate a target, a notification about it will appear on the right
Added zoom support and camera movement inertia to the Dynasty menu
The quest to neutralize a lord will now appear above the target's city rather than the employer's city
Character Balance
Reduced the relationship bonuses from the "Impressionable Hunter" weakness and the "Flesh Wolf Hammer" strength from x2 to x1.5 and x1.3, respectively
Limited the maximum thought caused by relationship inversion during usurpation to between -20 and +20
Guests from neighboring provinces can now begin arriving from day 2 rather than after the player's city reaches 20 civilian population
Seduction can no longer be assigned against characters who are currently pregnant
Until there is a second politician in the city, the ruler will not create new political strategies, and advice about a politician having too few followers will not be displayed
The Bishop can now receive a thought indicating whether he likes or dislikes the current ruler
Political activity in the player's city will now begin at 40 population rather than 20
The "Emotionless Sex" thought received after seduction will now display the portrait of the character associated with the thought
A politician will only use seduction or order an ally to use it if the performer's mood is above 40, or if special traits prevent them from receiving negative thoughts from seduction. A politician will not use seduction if their relationship with the target is already above +50
Reduced the negative thought received by the performer of seduction from -30 to -20
Experience gained from inspections has been reduced by half
Desires to change the ruler will no longer give politicians a negative thought
Commanders will no longer gain followers after defeating a bandit camp
Increased the stake for playing dice from 100 to 300
The Bishop will deliver Sermons of Faith less frequently
The Sermon of Faith will now distribute 5 coins to each listener
After a politician disappears from the player's city, a new politician cannot appear for at least 10 days. The exception is when a politician seizes power through usurpation
The Manners skill level now affects the cost of the reward requested from the king
Politicians will select targets for gaining a new ally and undermining a rival less efficiently. The best target will be selected with a 53% chance, the second-best target with a 26% chance, the third-best with a 13% chance, and the fourth-best with an 8% chance
Added a 20% success bonus to the "Burglar" strength when kidnapping or killing a lord on the global map
A politician in the player's faction whose relationship with the player's ruler is above 0 will perform political actions and deliver sermons half as often
A politician in the player's faction can now independently seek absolution from the Bishop if their total sins exceed 15 and they have at least 200 coins
Politicians will occasionally deliver a Sermon of Doubt if the Bishop is an ally of the player's ruler
The strength of the "Addict" thought for characters with the "Hatred of Substances" trait has been changed from -20 to -10, and it will only be applied if the character does not personally have an addiction
Removed the mechanic that gave every character on the global map a 0.5% daily chance of losing their sight. Honestly, I have no idea why we ever added this
Reduced the chance of becoming an alcoholic by 1.5 times
Economy Balance
Added a comfort effect for residential buildings based on proximity to rivers and lakes
Temples now provide a separate comfort effect for residential buildings
Removed the comfort bonus from neighboring residential buildings
Public place bonuses no longer stack with each other
When enemies have the objective of stealing gold from the Hall, they will now steal exactly half of the gold instead of 30-50 coins per character
The caravan will no longer sell most weapons, except bows and clubs
Reduced the price multiplier for goods during the post-war state
Reduced the price multiplier during harsh seasons
Adjusted the balance of negative effects from eating rutabaga
Peasants and soldiers who consume Nectar will now receive "Energized"
The "Mines" book is now available to the player from the start
Reduced the chance of surrendering instead of fleeing from 30% to 20%. Reduced the chance of capturing soldiers who fled during a battle on the global map from 50% to 25%
Random caravan price increases for a specific good are now capped at x2 instead of x3
Recruiting prisoners into the army now costs money. Mercenaries now have a Combat skill level between 7 and 9
Mercenaries are now 30% more expensive
Seasonal effects no longer affect the prices of alcohol and hops
Reduced the fertility bonus from rain from +30% to +10%
Increased the resource price bonus in the resource sale opportunity quest from x2 to x3
Chancelleries are now limited to managing no more than 10 buildings. Connecting one Chancellery to another now costs 3 paper per day
Raiding villages now provides loot in gold
Changed the prices of technologies and textbooks
Changed the population thresholds at which knowledge is unlocked
Adjusted the cost of cultural knowledge
Increased the final settlement development threshold from 100 to 110
Miscellaneous
The "No Ragamuffins" game modifier has been replaced with "No Raids". This change will be applied automatically to old saves
Players can now attack AI villages that are not located on the borders of their territory
Reworked mercenary recruitment. Mercenaries now arrive 12 hours after being hired, at the start of a new hour. Recruitment can be cancelled and the money refunded during the first hour after hiring. For old save migration, mercenaries who were hired but have not yet arrived will appear at the start of the next hour
After looting a warehouse, enemies will set it on fire
Added cultural knowledge for improved hops and rutabaga efficiency to the Varns
The number of fertile rye and hops fields has been reduced by half
No more than four rebel squads will be created during a religious uprising
Pilgrims will now pay for the food given to them, at a price three times higher than selling the resource to the caravan
Fixes
Guaranteed a mine during map generation and fixed mine placement being offset when constructed
A stronger mood modifier from treasury operations will no longer be replaced by a weaker one
Fixed a tutorial scenario where problems could occur if the required lord had already been selected before the tutorial scenario began
Fixed a bug where a pursuit order could end several tiles before the squad reached the fleeing target
Fixed a bug where hostages carried by squads incorrectly handled terrain elevation
Fixed bugs in the ambush task involving the capture of prisoners; Residents will no longer wake up because an enemy squad is nearby
Fixed a bug where torches thrown by warriors could fly from the edge of the map instead of from their hands
A squad will now leave a burning building on its own, unless it is engaged in combat
When surrendering, the equipment destruction sound will only play if the character had equipment
A warrior in a squad will drop a carried prisoner if the prisoner catches fire or dies; Warriors in squads will no longer attempt to capture burning prisoners
Wolves in squads will no longer capture prisoners, untie allies, or bandage allies' wounds; In mixed human-wolf squads, a human will be prioritized as the squad commander
A puppet can now definitely no longer become a master
Fixed a bug where the order to give carrots to unique Pilgrim guests was only displayed for the Pilgrim leader; The "Expel Guest" button will now always be the last order in the list
Fixed a softlock in the Puppets tutorial scenario when another lord was selected and a tab other than the first one was open
Fixed a bug where rebelling prisoners simply disappeared after completing all uprising objectives instead of fleeing the map
Fixed a bug that prevented Farms from being built. When the relevant knowledge is learned, the yellow marker will now flash on all Farm variants
Fixed a bug in the Squad Creation tutorial scenario where, at the stage requiring the player to press the squad creation button, it was impossible to add a squad of soldiers or lords
Partially fixed a bug involving unclear padding in the tutorial window
Fixed movement time calculations for armies and characters on the global map
The player will now receive the full ransom amount for freeing an AI lord from bandit captivity
Fixed a bug where armies on the global map were not displayed in the player's bottom army panel
Fixed a bug where Yellow Fanatics lost the Nectar Addiction trait at 08:00
Different enemy squads will no longer burn and loot the same building at the same time
Fixed a bug where the "Spend Time Together" action hint displayed a line granting +100 mood to the target when chatting
Fixed a bug where the puppets of lords who became politicians did not automatically become followers
Improved the algorithm for determining where roads and walls are constructed. They will now be placed exactly at the mouse coordinates instead of appearing higher because of terrain elevation
The target of seduction will no longer receive the "Spent the Night Together" thought
The initial setup of the player's city budget when starting a new game will no longer write data to statistics, which previously caused problems with the first economy report
Fixed a bug where a bandit camp could not spawn in Ken's province
Fixed a bug where a bandit camp could spawn with fewer than 3 bandits
Fixed a bug where two notifications appeared on the right when a lord surrendered at a bandit camp
Fixed a bug where the caravan trading action did not display the reason why the action could not be assigned
Changed the mechanics for assigning warriors to towers. Soldiers without ranged weapons will no longer go to towers
Fixed a bug where the "People Have Nowhere to Pray" and "Build a Library" problem flags repeatedly appeared and disappeared at the start of the game. These pieces of advice will now only appear if the advice about building houses for residents has been displayed and completed at least once
Fixed a bug where the dust effect spawned too low when buildings were constructed on elevated terrain
If a task assigned by a politician becomes invalid, for example if the politician wanted someone to be seduced but the target's interest in the performer decreased after the task was assigned, or the target became unavailable for another reason, the task will be cancelled at the start of the hour. Political activity takes place between hours 16 and 24
Fixed a bug where forcing a seduction task from the target's menu could result in ordinary sex
Fixed the "Intrigues with Neighbors" tutorial scenario. All windows now appear in the same location, and the correct buttons are highlighted regardless of the selected language
Fixed bugs in the rendering of character and squad movement paths on the global map
Fixed poisoning on the global map. Additional thoughts not listed in the action hint will no longer be applied
Nighttime intimidation by a politician will be cancelled if the politician loses a fight
The icon above a character indicating that they are squeezing between buildings will no longer appear while the character is in combat
Fixed a game crash that could occur during the "Prisoner Control" event
Fixed a bug where the caravan trader could claim that the price of a good might increase even though the caravan did not sell that good, such as coal
Fixed a bug where the most recent saves could fail to appear in the load menu. Save loading is now lazy-loaded, so having hundreds of saves no longer affects load menu performance
Fixed a bug where the "Poorly Hosted My Lord" thought was positive
Fixed a bug where the opportunity quest to ransom a neighboring lord from a bandit camp could disappear immediately after spawning because the lord's ruler ransomed them immediately after the kidnapping. The ruler will now never ransom such a lord if the lord was created as part of an opportunity quest
Fixed a NO error when cancelling squad changes after adding a new soldier and giving them a weapon
Fixed a bug where a hired unique Mountain Bandit guest continued waiting for a conversation after being hired
Resources will now ignore some map generation restrictions if there is not enough space for them. Added a safeguard with repeated generation attempts and a notification for the player
Fixed a bug where maps could generate without clay
Fixed the cooldown hint for the Sermon of Generosity, which is available to characters with the "Sacrificer" trait
If the target of nighttime intimidation wakes up because of the break-in, the intimidation attempt will now be cancelled
A politician will no longer attempt to intimidate at night a target with the "Anxious" trait, since such a target automatically wakes up during an intrusion and cannot be intimidated
Fixed the displayed operating cost of the Chancellery
Fixed a bug where an intimidation action task assigned by an AI politician was always deleted on the evening after assignment, even though the intimidation itself still began
A bandit camp created by the Event Director's opportunity system will no longer immediately grow again; A bandit camp will also no longer grow while an attack order has been assigned to it
Patch #54 (BETA). Guest Rework, Politics Improvements, and New Character Traits
Guests
Updated the mechanics of guests arriving from neighbors.
Bodyguards
Guests arrive with bodyguards - 2–3 soldiers who rest during the day and guard their lord at night.
Guest bodyguards will receive equipment and skills according to the AI city’s development level.
Guest bodyguards will display a trait with an explanatory hint about whom they are guarding.
Possible Guest Roles
Sociable - arrives when relations are above -25.
The purpose of the visit is shown in the guest’s hint - to build relations with the player’s politician for the future or to obtain a puppet.
Before arriving, checks whether there is a suitable target among the player’s lords with a weakness corresponding to the guest’s strength.
Can use the following strengths: Silver Tongue, Fleshwolf Hammer, or Sensitive Lover.
Looks for targets with the following weaknesses: Naive, Impressionable Hunter, Slave of Desire.
Prioritizes the player’s politician; if there is no suitable target, chooses the character with the largest number of followers.
The player’s ruler cannot be the target of a Sociable guest.
A guest with Silver Tongue can give the target money or rings on behalf of their ruler, improving the politician’s relationship with them.
A guest with Fleshwolf Hammer can go hunting with the target if the guest is a ruler.
A guest with Sensitive Lover can attempt to seduce a suitable target.
If the target’s weakness is on cooldown at the start of the day, the guest will leave the next day.
Schemer - arrives when relations are below 0.
The purposes of the visit are shown in the hint as unknown.
Before arriving, also checks for a suitable target with a weakness corresponding to the guest’s strength.
Chooses the player’s ruler or a politician as the target.
If the target is the player’s ruler:
Madness Poisoner uses the Potion of Madness.
Fistfighter challenges the ruler to a fistfight.
If the target is not the player’s ruler:
Slanderer worsens the target’s relationship with the player’s ruler through slander.
The Gambler and Parent roles remain unchanged.
Map Generation
Added a map generation settings menu at the Hall placement stage when creating a new game.
If a small terrain is selected, a hill will no longer be generated in the center of the map, and the required playable area for successful generation has been reduced to 70% of the map.
The final generation attempt (after a series of failed attempts) now tries to generate the map to the end, even if it does not fully match the parameters.
2D cliffs will no longer be created during map generation.
Added a hill placement setting to the map generation settings menu.
Character Traits
Added the “Berserk” character trait.
Added the “Thirst for Knowledge” character trait.
Added the “Master of Profit” character trait.
Added the “Gourmet” character trait.
Added the “Life of the Party” character trait.
Added the “Intuitive Genius” character trait.
Added the “Inspirer” character trait.
Added the “Comforter” character trait.
Added the “Voice of Reason” character trait.
Added the “Redeemer” character trait.
Added the “Beggar” character trait.
Added the “Doctor” character trait.
Added the “Musician” character trait.
Added the “Prince of Thieves” character trait.
Added the “Singer of Love” character trait.
Added the “Harsh Judge” character trait.
Politics
Added the usurpation mechanic. A politician who has taken the throne by force is considered a usurper.
The usurper receives a thought toward the new ruler: “Overthrew my friend” or “Overthrew my enemy”, with a strength equal to their relationship with the previous ruler, with the opposite sign.
A politician will not receive new desires for a change of power if their relationship with the ruler is +25 or higher.
Added fistfight duels. The winner receives a bonus to interest in themselves (x2 from the opposite sex).
A fistfight gives a social thought of release toward the participants.
Added the Potion of Madness. It can be used by a poisoner. The target temporarily goes mad, loses interest in themselves, and loses followers.
The Potion of Madness now reduces interest in the target by -20 for 10 days for all other lords.
Added the character strength “Fistfighter”: 15% chance to knock out the opponent in a fistfight. Added the character weakness “Boastful”: losing a fistfight causes the character to lose followers and worsens relations with lords who witnessed the fight.
Added thoughts for victory and defeat in a fistfight; lords within a radius of 20 tiles gain interest in the winner (+10, or +20 if the winner is of the opposite sex).
Politicians can now use the puppets of their followers and give them orders in the same way as followers.
Puppets of the player ruler’s followers can now perform ordered actions (seduction, duel, etc.) that were previously available only to followers or direct puppets of the ruler.
Night intimidation conspiracies can now involve politicians’ followers, not only their personal followers.
The player’s ruler can no longer personally participate in night intimidation; for this, you must use a puppet or an ally. The performer receives a negative thought toward the ruler. If the intimidation was ordered by the player, guards do not intervene.
Politicians can now use fistfights to weaken another lord’s influence if the target has the “Boastful” weakness.
Changed the chance of gaining loyalty after an army victory in battle from 35% to 10 + 1% for each level of the Command skill.
World Map
Added new conditions for providing assistance during aggression on the global map: if a neighbor’s relationship with the victim is above +25, and their relationship with the attacker is below 0, the chance of assistance is 100%; if their relationship with the victim is above +25, and their relationship with the attacker is below +25, the chance of assistance is 50%
Trade agreement fixes on the global map: renewal is now calculated based on the first contract, its duration has been reduced, and the penalty has been changed
Trade agreements for selling goods become less profitable when repeatedly signed with the same city for the same resource
Ignoring a request for military aid from a friendly neighbor (relations 25+) now worsens relations by 30
If the player shows aggression toward a neighbor (except through dark deeds), neighboring factions that border both the player and the victim have a 50% chance to receive mutual positive thoughts about their shared neighbor
Intrigue orders on the local map through allies or puppets now worsen the performer’s relationship with the ruler
Secret murder now ignores the AI’s relationship check toward the player on the global map
Changed the algorithm for generating knowledge for AI lords on the global map
Wise Conversation is now free, requires a 25+ ruler-to-player-ruler relationship on the global map, and a character with the "Thirst for Knowledge" trait ignores the required relationship threshold
A puppet performer in another city can commit a crime even if relations toward the player in that city are very low (which would prevent the player from sending their own lord)
Miscellaneous
Pottery is now sold by caravan traders
Bandits no longer try to rob the Hall (since this almost always fails due to nearby lords)
Blindness will no longer prevent a lord from being challenged to a duel (because of the corresponding Blind Fury achievement)
Characters will no longer stand up for their friend in fights if the fight is caused by the mask of shame being worn
Removed the bishop’s mood increase from performing a sermon of faith
The bishop can no longer be selected as a murder target through an action task on the local map
The hiring cost of a free lord based on their skills now ignores all skill modifiers (except the lord’s blindness)
Removed the "Natural Leader" character strength, removed the "Suggestible" character weakness
Roads no longer increase speed if they are placed directly between buildings
Stone and clay tiles have been moved from the Resources category to Raw
The movement speed of characters between houses has been reduced by 75%
When farm construction is completed in winter, the farm is disabled
A disabled farm will not turn itself back on after the harsh season ends if the player changed its crop
The seasonal thought is now removed after the harsh season ends
The "visit a loved one’s grave" desire is now fulfilled when the grave is built, not when it is visited
Disrupting a cultist ceremony now drives them out of the province
Added the "Grant Title" order for free lords who have not been hired; it combines the "Hire" and "Grant Title" actions under the same conditions
Duels and fistfights no longer give the social thought "Beat me up"; lords now watch fistfights and duels in the same way as villagers
Interface and QoL
Added icons for all character talents in the character menu, based on the icon of the corresponding skill
Added a list of lords who have the opposite character strength or weakness to the lord’s character strength and weakness hint (in the lord menu)
Added display of which kings a neighboring ruler will help when they are attacked, and who will help them against the player; this information is shown in the relationship hint with the city
Added an emoji bubble that will be displayed when a character moves between buildings. This indicates that the character is slowed
Added floating icons above characters who block or unblock the temple exit during the "Fervent Prayer" conspiracy
Added additional states for the "Send to Production" button in production building menus
When pressing the "Back" button during map preview, the player will return to editing the new game with the same parameters instead of going to the main menu
If a technology has already been studied by another lord, the research completion notification will now be normal instead of important
Removed the line from the sermon hint footer saying that the number of parishioners can depend on the sermon performer
Action tasks targeting the player’s ruler for poisoning, creating an ally, or creating a puppet will no longer be displayed
Arrows to local map exits will not be displayed while a video is playing (for example, at the end of the game)
The lord hint for portraits at the top of the GUI now displays character traits instead of thoughts
Disabled the "Aftermath of War" problem flag
Disabled the "Slow Knowledge Study" problem flag
Disabled the "Knowledge Under Threat" notification
Removed an extra footer from the peasant hint in their house. Previously, it also showed a line about fear of death
Removed arrow pointers to map exits, leaving only the text
Removed market saturation information from the resource hint (in the resource panel on the left), and removed daily consumption information from the caravan trader’s goods hint
Tutorial
Added a tutorial scenario about the bandit camp: the player is guided through opening the army menu, choosing a commander, assembling a squad, equipping fighters, waiting for the squad to form, and moving to the bandit camp on the global map
Added a tutorial scenario about the king’s political followers: the tutorial selects the king, highlights the required interface elements, and explains the followers tab/indicator
Added a tutorial scenario about a politician’s weaknesses: the tutorial selects a suitable politician, guides the player to the required character tab, and highlights their weak trait
Added a tutorial scenario about bad relationships between lords
Added a tutorial scenario about intrigues with neighbors
Added new tutorial scenarios and a tip about the Prison Ward
Added a tutorial scenario and a tip about the player’s lord becoming a puppet of another faction
Added a tutorial scenario about migration
Added a tip about the patrol flag
Added two new tutorial scenarios, about prisoner control and lord tutoring, as well as a tip about creating a puppet on the global map
Made fixes to the tutorial scenario about creating a squad
The tutorial flag "sign a trade agreement" has been moved to reaching a population level of 20
During the "Vagabonds Are Approaching" tutorial, mercenaries no longer arrive instantly; the "Defend the City" task appears only after they arrive
The soft tutorial window now hides together with the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia pop-up window now hides when the pause menu is opened
During the soft tutorial, the player’s squad will no longer take prisoners - they will finish them off instead
Additional peasants created only at the start of the tutorial will now be placed not in the center of the Hall, but on its square
Fixes
Fixed cases where characters carrying resources in baskets would fall out of the carrying logic and get stuck with baskets forever
Family preset files are now deleted if loading fails (for example, if the file is corrupted) and replaced with the default preset
Fixed child filtering for the "Knowledge Is Not Being Studied" tip
Fixed an error when displaying the hint for the "Make Puppet" action if the target is the performer’s child
Fixed a possible rare crash when displaying speech bubbles
Fixed a bug that caused the soft tutorial task window not to disappear after the task was completed
Fixed a bug that caused shields to continue being used invisibly in fistfights
Fixed a bug that caused the Matriarch not to receive a negative thought for illegal duels between lords
Fixed a bug that made the province impossible to select in the tutorial after renaming it
Fixed a bug that caused the tutorial scenario about distributing resources to remove Moonshine from production
Fixed an error that occurred when deleting a city from the map (for example, because it was captured by the Horde) if the city had an active trade agreement
Fixed a bug that caused the tutorial to suggest setting borders, even though this cannot be done in the tutorial
Fixed a game crash when trying to exit to the main menu while in manual combat with a bandit camp during the tutorial
Added color validation when loading a family preset (fixes the inability to continue the game after choosing a starting province)
Fixed the non-working button for restoring the local map generator’s default settings
Fixed a bug that allowed gold and rings to be adjusted in the player ruler’s action tasks even when there were not enough rings or gold
The order to visit a sick character will be automatically removed if the character is no longer sick
Fixed the conditions for showing the tip about books not being studied in cases where a lord left the local map
Fixed a bug that caused battle music to stop when there was a battle on the local map and a ceremony started
Fixed the trigger for the problem flag about homeless soldiers, even though hired soldiers simply had not yet had time to move into free barracks
Fixed a bug that caused crops in fields to be displayed at the wrong height, overlapping characters
Fixed a bug that caused the building selection menu for another building to open when right-clicking in the tutorial while choosing a location for the Castle
Fixed a bug that caused Wise Conversation on the global map not to work
Fixed a bug that caused the "border buttons" pop-up window to appear when starting a new game or tutorial
Fixed a bug that made it impossible to hover over some tips with the "Show How" button
Fixed a bug that caused the number of Chancery buildings in the King’s Eye not to update
Fixed a bug where, after completing the soft tutorial, starting a new game, and saving it, the save file did not consider the soft tutorial completed
Fixed a bug that caused the bride’s parents to receive incorrect roles when visiting for the wedding
Fixed a bug that allowed the game to be blocked if, during the family setup stage in the tutorial, the player clicked "Continue" instead of "Next"
Fixed a bug that caused the soft tutorial not to start after the hard tutorial ended
Fixed order starts with an insane performer
Fixed an error where the soft tutorial task about moonshine production was completed when setting 20, although it should be completed when setting 30
Fixed a bug that caused the "Got it" button to mark a read article as unread again
Fixed a bug that caused the wet/icy feet effect from bad weather not to work after loading the game
Fixed bugs with removing alcohol addiction
Fixed a bug with the food theft activity starting endlessly
Fixed an incorrect notification about harvested crops that do not fit into storage after harvesting
Fixed a bug that allowed the conspiracy target to react with a fight to the temple arson during a conspiracy, while that fight did not work
Fixed a bug that caused the rain sound to continue playing after loading a game where there was no longer any rain
Fixed a bug that caused a peasant bribing a politician to enter an infinite loop if the faction that sent that peasant no longer existed
Fixed a bug that allowed children to be born with blue or green skin if their parents had pneumonia or were poisoned at the moment of birth
Fixed incorrect outline display in the comfort tutorial scenario when changing the GUI size
Hired soldier cards no longer display the "Fear of Death" thought
Immobilized prisoners no longer try to escape
If a lord dies, develops Senile Dementia, or stops being a lord, politicians who chose them as their target reset the corresponding strategies
If a lord commits a crime in their own house, they will not pick the lock and can enter the house without problems
Borderless screen mode now automatically sets the full screen resolution, which fixes a bug where a lower resolution could be set in fullscreen mode and part of the screen would remain black
Graphics
Added new building assets for the training ground, pig farm, herbalist, and smelter; changed the brewery asset